Yoga traces its foundation back about 5,000 years. In addition to gaining worldwide popularity throughout those 50 centuries, yoga has also picked up its fair share of misconceptions.

Beginner yoga students in particular might be filled with doubt before their first yoga classes. Whether it’s worry about an injury or an idea that touching your toes is a prerequisite to practice yoga, we come up with a million reasons to avoid yoga.

At Yoga Pod Denver West, we wanted to demystify yoga and clarify the misconceptions that we had and that we hear from students every day.

If you want to try a beginner yoga class but something is holding you back, yoga might be what you need the most.

“I can’t touch my toes, so I won’t be able to do yoga.”

For whatever reason, the ability to touch our toes has become this litmus test for whether we are “flexible enough” for yoga. This couldn’t be further from the truth. For one, everyone’s anatomy is just a little bit different — while some people might be able to touch the ground with their palms effortlessly, other people have anatomy that just isn’t built for that type of movement. Worse yet, some students force themselves to touch the ground and risk hyper-extending their knees.

The object shouldn’t ever be touching your toes. Instead, yoga teaches you to listen to your body and to focus less on what “success” look like. There’s no such thing as doing a pose successfully, except that you have safe alignment and listen to your body.

Still not convinced? Try a podBASICS or podFLOW 1 class, and we guarantee that you’ll see students from all different levels who look different from each other in every pose.

Plus, the more beginner yoga classes you take, the more you’ll find that your flexibility (and strength!) have improved.

“I’m not into yoga philosophy and I don’t want to do crazy chants.”

Yoga is an aspect of Hinduism. In fact, yoga was initially conceived as a way to help Brahman priests to sit for longer periods of time in meditation. While yoga still pays homage to its historic roots and includes aspects of yoga philosophy, it’s important to note that we practice a western version of power yoga.

If the philosophy isn’t your thing, think of yoga in another way: a kick-ass form of exercise and stress relief.

In terms of the “crazy chants,” you don’t need to worry about this. While some classes include a traditional “ohm” to begin or end a class, you never have to participate in any of these chants. In fact, you never need to do anything you don’t want to do in a yoga class! As we said, the most important thing is to listen to your body.

“I can’t afford yoga.”

If financial worries have prohibited you from trying out beginner yoga classes, you have options. For one, you can take advantage of $30 For 30 Days at Yoga Pod Denver West. You can get to know our studio and yoga for $1 a day!

You can also apply to join our Karma Yoga program, where you work at our yoga studio a few hours a week in exchange for a free membership!

There’s no better time than now to start a yoga practice at Yoga Pod Denver West. We can’t wait to see you on your mat!